April 2009 Archive

EXCLUSIVE: As I have been reporting all along, Steve Rabineau is on his way from William Morris to UTA where he will become a partner and senior agent in the motion picture literary department. The deal is in its final stages of being worked out, I’m told, but is far enough along for Rabineau to have visited UTA this afternoon where Board members Jeremy Zimmer and David Kramer introduced Rabineau to the other agents in the department. Rabineau is expected to bring all his… Read

The VP of Drama Programming for NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios died last night after fainting on the set of NBC’s pilot Parenthood up in Berkeley and being rushed to Marin General Hospital. Reports say the cause of death was a brain aneurism. She was only 44. Here’s the NBC Universal statement: “Our hearts go out to the family and friends of our beloved colleague Nora, who was respected and cherished by so many people in the entertainment community. She’ll… Read

MultiChannel Newsreports that the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has released a report on the requirements for standards for the creation of 3-D stereoscopic content viewable on television sets and other home-entertainment displays. A SMPTE task force was set up last August to… Read

Tonight, ABC’s Nightline looks at the recession and viewership woes of Daytime TV. Of course, the show is an advertorial for All My Children and its veteran star Susan Lucci. But there does seem to be some journalism in the aftermath of pulling the plug on Guiding Light , the veteran CBS soap, or firing senior actors off NBC’s Days Of Our Lives. Even La Lucci had to take a pay cut. Julie Hanan Carruthers, All My Children‘s exec producer, says the recession is hitting the… Read

Turns out the South Park guys were right to blame Canada. Because a new federal government report released today on Copyright Piracy Abroad that shows several countries, including America’s Northern pal, are failing to enforce legal protections for copyrighted works and thus harming U.S. creative industries and the economy as a whole. According to a news release from his office, Congressman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said… Read

I hear it’s in the works and all her idea. So let me get this straight: Liz Mahoney was at UTA, then became an ID publicist, then returned to UTA as an agent, and is planning to return to ID as a publicist again.
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First, 20th Century Fox delayed the debut of X-Men Origins: Wolverine from May 14th in Mexico because of the flu crisis there. Now Sony has delayed two films for the same reason. “We have been closely monitoring the situation in Mexico all week and we continue to be extremely concerned about this health crisis and its impact on the people who live there, and especially those who have been affected by the flu,” the Hollywood studio said. “While our hope is that the… Read

I checked and it appears to be on the level. Magnamedia Casting Agency — based in New York, Beverly Hills, and London — announced today the addition of a new and specialised division called Senior Stars for “mature, name talent” for films, television, legitimate theatre, commercials, PSAs, infomercials, print, and personal appearances. According to Magnamedia’s Casting Executive Peter Hyde Sr, the group represented are all seasoned and known performers and entertainment… Read

I wish every Hollywood guild member could spend time this morning listening to CNBC and its anti-union ranting over the Chrysler-is-saved announcemet by President Obama. The anchors and guests are accusing the White House of “demonizing” Wall Street instead of the “real enemy” which is the UAW. Let’s not forget that CNBC is owned by NBC Universal (in turn owned by GE) which depends on unions to get its content made. Sheesh!Hey, Jeff Immelt, Blame Your Own…Read

Viacom’s Philippe Dauman is claiming that the ad market has stabilized. “We are not seeing any further deterioration.” Viacom beat the street even though net income was down by 34% on 7% lower revenue because of weak advertising.
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It was just a question of when, not if. Disney will buy 27% of Hulu for less than $35 million to put full ABC episodes on the site — about what NBC and Fox have. (Providence Equity Partners also is an investor.) Disney will get 3 seats on Hulu's board for Bob Iger, Kevin Mayer and Anne Sweeney. Disney and its ABC unit will provide current and older programming, including Scrubs, Private Practice, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Hulu will also carry shows from ABC Family and… Read